10 Things To Remember About Syrian Poetry

To celebrate the launch of the Critical Muslim‘s Syria issue, editor Robin Yassin-Kassab has made a list of “10 things to remember about Syria” that trends toward the positive: Maté, sufis, poetry, fatteh. ArabLit focuses on, No. 4, the poetry:

What? No Abu Tammam?

This list is hardly “canon”; in any case, a rich tradition allows the reader to deviate from a best-of list.

1) Ninth century poet al-Buhturi, often compared to another great ninth century Syrian poet, Abu Tammam. Here, from “The Poet and the Wolf,” trans. Tarif Khalidi: